Documents found
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1252.More information
This essay examines the emotions and the morality of war in La Araucana. Literature offers insights into the human experience of war, such as suffering and pain, complementing the contributions of Philosophy and Law to the just war theory. Although it is a genre that celebrates the destruction of the enemy, the epic highlights the emotions and the moral sentiments that war elicits, such as rage, cruelty, compassion, and clemency. Since classical antiquity, the epic has offered reflections on when to kill and when to pardon the enemy in war, expressed in relation to the concept of pietas (civic duty). This concept, its Renaissance transformation, and its role in Ercilla’s poem are examined here. Considering that a triumphal narrative was impossible due to the strong resistance of the Mapuche people, the text underscores the figure of the poet soldier as a compassionate Conquistador. This humanitarian figure was more acceptable in an era in which stories about the cruelty of the Conquistadors circulated widely, such as fray Bartolomé de las Casas, Brevisima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (1552).
Keywords: epic, épica, colonialismo, colonialism, imperialismo, imperialism, humanitarianism, humanitarismo, compassion, compasión, clemency, clemencia
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1253.More information
This paper is concerned with examining the role Canada has played in the development of the law of armed conflict. It makes the point that, while it is generally assumed that the Canadian courts followed the practice of those in the United Kingdom, this is too simple an approach. From the early years of the nineteenth century, the Vice-Admiralty Court in Halifax was making a contribution to the law of prize and maritime war law that might be compared with that of Lord Stowell in England. Moreover, even then, it was applying principles that have only recently been generally accepted — that armed conflict is as much a question of fact as of law, and that naval officers, at least, must be taken to know the law. It is hardly believable that as long ago as 1814, Dr. Croke was upholding the immunity from capture of "the arts and sciences... as the property of mankind at large, and as belonging to the common interests of the whole species. " In addition to these early decisions in maritime war law, the Canadian courts have stood almost alone in the English-speaking world in explaining the criminal liability of escaping prisoners of war, in terms which to some extent formed the basis of what appeared in the Geneva Convention of 1949. At the same time, a Canadian war crimes tribunal made an important contribution to the exposition of the nature of a commander's liability for the offences of his subordinates, while others added to the jurisprudence concerned with the nature of the defence of superior orders. In so far as an actual innovative contribution is concerned, it must not be forgotten that the enunciation by Daniel Webster in 1842 of the concept of self-defence as understood in international law resulted from the actions of loyalists during the 1837 Rebellion. More recently, Canada played a concrete role in the drafting of the 1977 Protocols additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions for the development of humanitarian law in armed conflict. In fact, Protocol II relating to non-international conflict is almost entirely based on a Canadian draft expressing Canada*s concern to see principles of humanitarian law observed as widely as possible, regardless of the nature of the conflict. As a result of tracing Canada 's role one is led to the conclusion that itconstitutes a record of achievement that merits wider appreciation.
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1254.More information
The decline of public education and the concomitant loss of the commons are increasingly recognized as significant and interwoven issues. Like other prevailing societal problems, such as the tenacity of institutionalized racism, classism, and patriarchy, these conditions are rooted in the ways growing numbers of people have come to think and act – socially, economically, politically, and intellectually. In a word, they are structural problems. As such, they require educators and others concerned with the health of society and well-being of the planet to address not only the observable symptoms but also the underlying factors that have spawned and perpetuated the systems in the first place. Critical scholars generally understand that problematic structural conditions are produced and maintained by prevailing systems of thought and action, that they evolve within particular social and historical contexts, and that they have often been instituted through oppressive mechanisms of persuasion and control. Less understood are the ways these intersecting systems, contexts, and mechanisms are perpetuated via largely “invisible” perceptual and temporal factors that obscure the processes at play. Understanding the relationships between these various factors is essential to effectively addressing the challenges we face. This paper synthesizes the literature in critical theory, ecological philosophy and living systems theories, Indigenous studies, and the sociology of knowledge to examine these intersecting factors and to consider implications for theory and practice in education.
Keywords: Critical Theory, The Commons, Public Education, Ecological Philosophy, Living Systems Theory, Indigenous Studies, Sociology of Knowledge
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1255.
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1256.More information
AbstractNot unlike the inexplicable phantasm, the Gothic novel has appeared to materialize from nowhere. Few critics have been able to explain why Gothic novelists were fixated upon the tropes of persecution, oppression, and the reclaimed birthright or why indeed they sought to resurrect a seemingly regressive, escapist folk-tale-like form despite the success of the "realistic" novels of Fielding, Richardson, and Smollett. Even fewer have been able to explain why Gothic novelists displayed so much awareness of gender issues before the publication of Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792. This essay begins by taking a rare glimpse into British reformist discourses of the late eighteenth century, focusing on contemporary allegations of incipient despotism and the widened appeal for universal (male) enfranchisement while also examining the new populist discursive strategies deployed by reformist writers. It demonstrates how the central themes and discursive strategies of Gothic novels from 1770 through 1800 conform to those found in contemporary reformist writing despite their lack of overt references to politics. On a larger scale, this essay shows how political discourse affects the shaping of literary genre and, conversely, how genre affects the shaping of political discourse in the rise of the so-called public sphere.
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1257.More information
This article proposes a new interpretation of a controversial and important figure of early Acadian history, Charles de Menou, on the basis of an analysis of historical documents relating to his parents and family. It shows that while Charles was certainly typical of the old nobility in his general outlook and attitudes, he broke with family expectations and became estranged from his father as a result of his career in Acadia. Although Charles helped lay the foundation for a permanent colony, he also left a legacy of financial ruin and damaged reputation for his widow and children. Despite his hope that he had established a new family estate in Acadia, none of his children stayed in the colony and, in fact, they all died without leaving children of their own.